Ministry prequalifying contractors for new Demerara River Bridge construction

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure yesterday announced that it will be soon embarking on the process of pre-qualifying contractors for the construction a new Demerara River Bridge.

According to a statement issued by the ministry yesterday, contractors will be pre-qualified for the finance, design, building, and maintenance components of the new bridge.

It said these works will be procured through public tendering, with a restricted number of bidders.

“The procurement process will be a two-phase one: the current pre-qualification phase and the bidding phase. In the pre-qualification phase, three contractors will be shortlisted and requested to submit designs and offer a fixed price lump sum bid for the design and construction of the bridge and approach roads,” it explained.

It added that the shortlisting of the bidders shall be on the basis of the profile, track record, and financial capacity of the applicants as well as on the merit of the technical, cost and financing proposals presented by applicants in their pre-qualification document.

Furthermore, in order to improve the funding package, it said that applicants for shortlisting are requested to advance proposals for financing the project.

The statement said the “Request for Pre-Qualification Document” will be available for download on the ministry’s website (www.mopi.gov.gy) from August 21, 2017 and contractors must respond by September 4 in order to be considered for participation in the pre-qualification procedure.

The proposed bridge is expected to be approximately 2 kilometres north of the existing floating bridge, spanning from Houston on the eastern bank of the Demerara River to Versailles on the western bank of the Demerara River. The project will see the construction of an approximately 1,500m long fixed bridge with a movable span and two approach roads of a total length of 600m. It is envisaged that the project will commence in 2018 and will be delivered in 2020.